Maximise your potential to win new business from your mailing / telemarketing or email campaign by following our business list buying guide. Here are some essential questions you should be asking:

How is the business list kept up to date?

Make sure you know where the source of data is originally from and how it's updated - is this by telephone, online or via postal returns? You'll get the best results if the list has been refreshed on a regular rolling basis by telephone verification. You'll get even better results if you can select by how recently the file was verified, but this will be at the expense of list volume.

All of Marketing Guru's lists are tele-verified, unless otherwise stated. Click here to search our business lists.

Is the business list screened against any industry suppression files?

If your list supplier is a member of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) they are bound to comply with the DMA Code of Conduct. This includes amongst many other things, ensuring telephone numbers are CTPS screened and flagged up on the database. If your telemarketing team telephoned a CTPS registered company with an unsolicited sales / marketing call you could be liable for a £5,000 fine.

It's also good practice to exclude companies that are registered with the Mailing Preference Service as these companies have indicated they do not wish to be mailed with unsolicited material.

Marketing Guru always ensure our lists are compliant with CTPS and MPS.

Is the business list correctly formatted?

When you receive your business database, you ideally need the company name in the company name field, address line 1, 2, 3, Town, County, Postcode format. This makes it easy to import into your database system and easy to mail. Most importantly, if your database isn't in this format, it could show that the data vendor hasn't take especially great care in collecting and recording the data you are about to use!

Your business database should be validated against the Post Office Address file in order to give each address the best chance of actually getting to the recipient. By being fully post coded and checked with the Royal Mail, you'll get a swifter delivery and less returns.

Marketing Guru always supply correctly formatted business data.

Have you selected the right target market?

Making sure you select the right target market is absolutely essential to getting the most out of your campaign. By targeting decision makers and companies with a potential need for your products and services, it's simple but often the selection criteria can be either overlooked or overplayed at the expense of volume.

Marketing Guru Standard & Premium business lists can be selected by postcodes, County / Region / Towns, job titles, job roles, business sectors (Thomson Classifications / SIC Codes), number of employees or Turnover.

You need to ensure that you've understood what's available and the limitations. For example - selecting only certain job titles might make you feel you are targeting the right contacts, but in fact they may be many other job titles within the same job role you are missing. Ultra fine targeting can mean you have “over-egged” it and in fact you missing out on volume and not making your campaign cost effective.

Marketing Guru will advise you on the best targeting strategy. Click here for more advice on targeting prospects.